Sale Topper Hip 156 (Kristen Russell photo – TDN)
New York-breds closed out the 2012 North American sales cycle on a high note when a weanling half-sister to Unbridled Command (Master Command), winner of the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby on November 25, topped the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December Mixed Sale at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium Monday. Another New York-sired Empire-bred by Bluegrass Cat shared the honors for second-highest seller of the day.
Bred by Rhapsody Farm LLC and Jon Davis, and foaled at Rhapsody Farm in Plymouth, the sale-topping filly (Hip 156) was purchased by McMahon/Hill on behalf of Vivien Malloy’s Edition Farm from the consignment of Rhapsody Farm and Hidden Lake Farm (agents) for $100,000.
Born on April 15, 2012, the filly – grey like her famous half-brother – is by former New York stallion Read the Footnotes, sire of New York-bred Grade 1 winner Rightly So, who stood for Sequel Stallions New York in Hudson from 2006 to 2011 before relocating to Oklahoma for the 2012 breeding season.
The filly’s dam, Unbridled Betty, an unraced daughter of Unbridled’s Song is out of Timotara (Secretariat), a winner who produced two stakes winners and three stakes producers, including Astaire Step, dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Manistique (Unbridled), who earned over $1.3 million.
Malloy plans to re-sell the filly next summer at Saratoga. “It is what I call my personal pinhook,” she told the TDN. “I do a couple of personal pinhooks a year. I don’t get sentimental or attached to them as much as I possibly can, because I want to keep a lot of the ones I breed, even though sometimes I shouldn’t. And this way, I know that I have some that I will sell. This filly, if she never steps on a racetrack, she is a half-sister to a Grade I winner and she is still valuable.”
Speaking of Unbridled Command’s recent Grade 1 victory for owner Lewis Lakin and trainer Tom Bush, Malloy added, “Tom Bush is my trainer, he’s trained for me for years, and he’s always liked [Unbridled Command]. They took a huge step and took him across the country to the Hollywood Derby, and he doesn’t do a thing like that unless he is pretty confident it is a wonderful horse. So I just think he is going to do very well with this half-brother for the rest of the year, which will help this weanling when I sell her in August.”
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Hip 128, a weanling colt by New York sire Bluegrass Cat (Vinery New York at Sugar Maple Farm), shared with three others the second highest price of the day, selling from the consignment of Sally Thomas (agent) to Ken and Sarah Ramsey for $50,000.
From the family of millionaire Videogenic, the dark bay April weanling was bred by Bruce Smart and foaled at Stone Bridge Farm in Gansevoort. His dam is Texas-bred dam Richbabe (Richman) – a multiple stakes winner and earner of $98,319 – is a half to multiple stakes winner Bluegrass Sara by Tabasco Cat ($153,052) and has produced Grade 3 winner Richwoman (Successful Appeal), who earned $169,920. Richbabe’s 3-year-old Street Sense colt Street Thug ($71,720) brought $400,000 as a 2-year-old at the 2011 Fasig-Tipton Florida sale.
